


what stays buried

by anissa_qiaolian



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), The Originals (TV)
Genre: AOS 5A Crossover, BAMF Melinda May, Canon-Typical Violence, Caregiver AU, Compulsion, Gen, Melinda May Feels, Multi, Nanny AU, New Orleans, Parent Melinda May, Post-Bahrain (Agents of SHIELD), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre season 3 of the Originals, Trauma, gaurdian melinda may, just go with it, melinda baby feels, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2019-09-28 10:18:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17181095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anissa_qiaolian/pseuds/anissa_qiaolian
Summary: A woman who thinks she's a monster and a man raised to be one try to outrun their demons. But in New Orleans nothing stays buried for long...basically Melinda gets separated from the gang during time travel, ends up in new orleans, and (unluckily?) gets recruited by hybrid vampire klaus mikaelson for a very surprising mission





	1. Chapter 1

He finds her in a darkened New Orleans alleyway, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

One moment he is walking home from Rousseau’s and the next a pretty, petite Asian woman nearly collides into his chin on the sidewalk.

 Luckily for her he is in a benevolent mood and not thirsty enough to drain her, so he plans to leave her alive.

“You should be more careful, love.” Klaus says as he steadies the woman to her feet.  He takes another look at her.

She is beautiful, yes, but her clothes and face are covered in grime and dirt. There is a filthy smell that he realizes is coming from a large gash on left thigh covered in bloody, rotting bandages that should have been changed a week ago. Her brown hair is surprisingly clean, glowing sleek and dark in the moonlight. She piques Klaus’ curiosity.

The woman senses danger in his eyes and levels him warily.

Smart girl.

“You’re not from New Orleans,” Klaus observes. Her mouth is set in a resolute line which tells him he has to pull extra information from this woman if he wants it. This should be a waste of time but he decides to indulge, for now.

In his musings Klaus forgets the grip he still holds on her until she snatches her arm back in haste.

“No. I’m not.”

A lesser man, a _mortal_ man, would’ve taken that brusque statement as a forewarning of sorts.

He was no mortal man.

Instead he steps closer, invading her space, to judge how she measures a threat. Her gaze hardens but instead of backing away she stands as straight and tall as her injured leg will allow and stands firmly on the ground.

“It’s quite dangerous here at night, love. You never know what denizens you might run into in an unfamiliar area.”

She seems confused by his speech for a moment then tilts her tiny chin up defiantly.

“I’ll manage.”

There is not single trace of fear in the woman’s voice when she says this. She truly has no idea who he is! Klaus finds it very fascinating.

She goes on with a raised eyebrow.

“Do I have to show you what I mean before you let me pass? I’m not in the best shape to kick your ass right now, clearly, but like I said: _I’ll manage.”_

Klaus laughed. “Well you are something, you know that! But I assure you, sweetheart, whatever self-defense classes you took will not protect you from‒”

The Original hybrid was not able to finish his sentence before a black heeled boot connected with his jaw.

Klaus stumbled back a few inches more out of surprise then in pain. If he were a human the blow surely would have knocked him off his feet.

“Hmm. Well it seems I’ve underestimated you.”

She shrugs. “Most people do.”

Before she can get too confident though, Klaus uses his vampire speed to surprise her from behind and holds her in a headlock with just enough space between his arms for her to breathe.

“Perhaps you’re right. One thing you should know about me, though… _I am not a person.”_

He prepares to sink his teeth into the smooth skin of her shoulder when her head jerks violently forward; some last-ditch effort at a headbutt, he assumes. 

He stops her mid-movement with the palm of his hand. She strains against the movement and Klaus actually has to apply the tiniest amount of pressure to keep her still.

“I wouldn’t, love. The pretty contents of your skull would only litter the streets in fractions if you went about knocking it with mine.”

She stops straining against his hand and for a brief moment Klaus feels relief. For some reason it really mattered to him that she stayed alive.

 “I won’t stop fighting you.”

Though the woman realized she was greatly overpowered in this situation (something she very clearly was unused to) the fire never left her voice or her eyes and her stance on the ground remained defensive.

Curious, Klaus decided to let her show off a little before he fed.

He loosened his grip just slightly enough to be undetectable to human senses when her arm sprang up from where he had her pinned to the elbow and two petite fingers dug deep into his eyes and tried to pluck them from their sockets.

Taken aback, the hybrid cursed and dropped his arms. She seized the opportunity to start running. Klaus growled and showed his fangs to distract from the throbbing pain that was already receding in his eyes.

He sped in front of her and relished the wide-eyed fear in her eyes that moments ago held nothing but confidence and contempt. He stalked forward and knew that this was the moment she saw she was outmatched, because for the first time, she backed away.

“As I said,” Klaus began again, still showing his teeth and glowing yellow wolf eyes, “I. Am not. A person. And you”, he pointed a sharpened nail at her, “will also learn _very soon_ that I have no patience for those who defy me.”

What she said next was more surprising than anything else Klaus had heard.

“Defy you? What have I done to you besides try to save my own life? If this is how my life ends, being eaten by a… a _vampire,_ then fine. But I’d like to go out on my terms. Can you at least give me that?”

In all his thousand-year existence he had never met a human, or rather anyone, who would be so candid about facing such a dreary fate. More than intrigued Klaus was enthralled.

He had to learn more about the tiny mortal woman who was not afraid of death.

 

She woke up in an unfamiliar place. A nice room decorated in white, black and the barest hints of gold. Vaguely Southern Gothic.

Not the first time this has happened.

Hell, just weeks ago she was trapped in a simulation ran by a crazy scientist and transported to a virtual Hydra nightmare world by his even crazier AI assistant.

The fact that one of those _things_ paraded around in _her_ skin living her life for weeks still caused Melinda May to shiver.

If isn’t one nightmare, it’s another.

She made a move to yank off the covers and see just where the hell she was when she froze. She wiggled her right leg and was shocked to find out it was no longer in excruciating pain. She felt no pain from her previous injuries at all.

Suspicious, Melinda swung her leg off the bed and inspected the spot where a gaping hole used to be on her upper thigh. Nothing. Her arms, legs, back, shoulders and feet where clear of all bruises and cuts that had been there just hours before.

She walked over to the mirror and noticed she was wearing a soft blue bathrobe with the initials ‘R.M’ etched elegantly on the back in gold letters. Her hair was washed and pulled into a loose french braid and her face was completely clear.

It had been a while since she’d been lucky enough to have a body free of visible scarring.

Melinda’s musing was interrupted by a noise from the bathroom. She tensed and assumed a fighting position, fists balled, legs spread apart when a blonde head peaked out from the adjoining door.

“You’re awake! I didn’t mean to scare you, just didn’t think you’d be up so – “

“Where the hell am I?” asked Melinda, tightening her stance even further.

Her possible assailant had a British accent, like the man she vaguely remembered bumping into on the street yesterday.

Wait a minute…

Now that she thought about it, Melinda had no recollection of how she ended up there or even how that encounter ended. A vile feeling began to settle over her stomach…

“Hey, look at me, it’s all right. That man you met yesterday was my brother. You are in our house; this is  my bedroom. I promise he did nothing to you but heal your injuries. I bathed and clothed you before you went to bed last night. Though I’m not sure why he compelled you to forget.”

“How is that possible?”, Melinda asked.

The blonde grimaced and said in a way that confirmed to her she was this man’s sister:

“You’re going to want to sit for this part love.”

 

Rebekah, she had learned the woman’s name was, explained to Melinda that her and her brothers, Klaus and Elijah, were very old supernatural creatures, which was why they were stronger than her. They were the world’s first vampires, called Originals.

Rebekah’s brows furrowed when Melinda seemed to have no visible reaction to this.

Instead she only rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Of course. That’s the only thing I haven’t done yet.”

Inhumans, evil robots, nightmare worlds, human-enslaving aliens…it made sense that the natural end to Melinda’s journey would be at the hands of an immortal, bloodsucking demon.

**

She made her way down the winding staircase about a half hour later. Melinda had contemplated sulking in Rebekah’s room until she could find a way to escape but thought against it. If they had supernatural speed and healing abilities, chances were they had superhuman tracking senses, too.

“Ah, there she is”, a familiar English voice called out from the foyer. “I was wondering when you would make your appearance. Is your leg feeling any better?”

His casual mention of her leg made Melinda glower as she cautiously sat down at the end of the dining table, to seats left of a man she presumed to be Rebekah’s other vampire brother, Elijah.

He regarded her with an almost bored disinterest as he fiddled with the cufflinks on his designer suit jacket.

“Oh, don’t mind Elijah.” Klaus said, noticing her glances as he sipped a glass of whiskey.

“He hasn’t had his morning coffee. Speaking of which…you must be quite hungry. I’ll have our chefs whip you up something fresh.”

Melinda must have had a bewildered look on her face because Klaus chuckled, and Elijah’s lips quirked for just a fraction of a second.

“I’m not going to feed you blood. You are still very much human. Although I must say you are looking a great deal better from when we brought you in last night.”

Finally, some answers.

Melinda sat up a bit straighter in her seat and slipped on the mask of Agent May, stoic and intimating; instead of the small, frightful woman she felt like at that moment.

“I have some questions about that.”

He smiled in a way that said he was indulging her. (And if she had any room for emotions other than weariness she would have been offended.)

“And I’ll soon let you ask away. But first…” he gestured for the servants to come forward and two plates of ham, eggs, and potatoes were placed before her seat, along with a steaming cup of coffee.

“I prefer tea, actually.”

He smiled again.

“My apologies.”

The coffee was immediately replaced by a steaming kettle, one of the servants bowing awkwardly as they hurried out of the room to dispose of the coffee.

When Melinda quirked a brow, Klaus shrugged in response.

“I had them prepare both, just in case. You never want to be presumptuous.”

“They’re being mind-controlled, too?”

Melinda had waited until the perfect time to pose her question, when Klaus was in the middle of another whiskey swallow and she had just began touching her food. The chewing made it harder to see the smirk on her lips as she said it.

As Melinda had correctly guessed, Klaus seemed to find this amusing, and the vampire laughed lightly before he answered,

“I knew there was something in you when I saw you. You have a vary sharp eye for detail. I guess if we’re being honest, yes: compulsion is a form of mind control. And I know that you are much more curious on why I used it on you. You were compelled last night because I could not heal you while you were so bent on fighting me. Vampire blood has healing properties and, as you’ve probably learned from Rebekah, I fed some of mine to you. You will stay human unless you happen to die within the next 24 hours, in which case, you’d be in transition. I think it’s beneficial for both of us if that doesn’t happen. I would love you tell you more, but – and it does pain me to say this because I very much enjoy hearing myself talk – I’m going to need this dialogue to get a little less one-sided.”

There was an implicit threat there, and as much as she didn’t want to indulge this monster she couldn’t ignore her self-preservation instincts edging her to just play along long enough to make her move.

This was just another mission.

Elijah stirred impatiently.

“This is getting nowhere. Brother, what exactly is your play here? There are other things to be done—”

“Elijah, please! Now is not the time for one of your self-righteous spiels. You’ll learn soon enough what mischief I’m up to, but for now you’ll just have to go with it, after our friend decides to share with the class. Go on, love.”

Deciding she would need more prompting, or maybe just out of impatience, Elijah began the questioning himself.

“Tell us your name.”

It’s a simple order; direct, like the beginning of a polygraph to test her loyalty to Shield, and Melinda found herself relaxing.

She had done these tests dozens of times throughout the years, five times her first year as a specialist and only once annually after that. She knew that Hill and Fury trusted her enough to take a more hands-off approach than protocol allowed, and the lack of oversight mainly caused her to thrive. Until…

“Melinda.”

 “Melinda? That’s a very pretty name, isn’t it? So light and feminine… _delicate._ ”

Klaus was mocking her, she knew, and her face betrayed nothing except that the conversation bored her greatly. It wasn’t that hard to project, once she’d shoved away the fear.

Melinda sensed a hint of discomfort at her inability to feel threatened by his taunts before his eyes shown once again with arrogance.

“I don’t wish to insult you, little warrior. In fact, I invited you in my home, to enjoy my food, and healed your many battle injuries because I admire you greatly and wish for your allyship.”

“I wasn’t exactly invited.”

If Klaus expected Melinda to crack and wax poetic about her “gratitude” to the Hybrid vampire he didn’t show it.

“You’re exactly right,” he said with a thin-lipped smile. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t help each other.”

“What could I possibly do for you? You’re the most powerful ancient creature nature’s ever created, you have an entire city under your control and you come from a family of vampires that cant be killed. I’m just some human woman you thought twice about slaughtering because I kicked you in the face.”

“Glad to know someone paid attention to Rebekah’s history lectures”, Elijah supplied from behind his whiskey. He took a haughty sip from the glass to hide the small smile peeking its way around the rim, but Melinda had caught it anyway.

Ignoring his brother’s little display Klaus kept his attention on her.

“You’re right, Melinda. You’re human. Which is exactly why I need you. Come with me.”

Melinda glanced up at the hybrid vampire warily, not moving an inch in her seat as he stood up from the table.

“I suppose this is the part where I make a joke about not biting you and your eyes go wide in horror. But none of those things will happen if you come with me, or whatever other morbid things you’re thinking. I know trust is a lot to ask, Melinda, but will you at least hear me out? I can tell you it’s not as horrid as you think.”

His tone was surprisingly genuine, and Melinda finds herself wanting to know more, knowing she could be punished for her curiosity later.

She follows him back up the staircase, passing over Rebekah’s room and a closed door along the hall. They pause at a room three doors down from hers and Klaus pushes its heavy oak doors aside and invites her in.

The room is a nursery.

In the center of all the toys, wooden carvings, and ornaments is a crib.

“What is this?” she breathes, completely aware of his eyes on her.

“Melinda. Meet my daughter, Hope Mikaelson. You are to be her new guardian.”


	2. Chapter 2

_No. No. No no no no no no no no._

This was a mistake. This was a trap.

She couldn’t watch over a child. Not after what she did. This was cruel joke, possibly even planned by HYDRA. Ward was undoubtedly laughing at her from Hell.

“No.”

“Is something wrong?”

Melinda didn’t realize she’d spoken out loud

“I…I can’t do this. You need someone else.”

“It was not a request, Melinda.”

“Then go ahead and kill me! I am not the person you want for this. I can’t be.”

Klaus was expecting reluctance or perhaps petulance for being kept here, but like last night Melinda continued to shock him.

“You would rather die than look after an infant?” His tone was laced with confusion before the more familiar feelings of anger and suspicion took its place.

“Because the spawn of a monster can’t be worth protecting, can it? Is that it? Are you so worried of what my daughter will grow up to be that you are less afraid of a violent death than caring for a _savage_ baby?”

Now it was Melinda’s turn to be confused and a little frustrated when she answered him in a fearful voice barely above a whisper.

“No. I’m not afraid of your daughter, Klaus. It’s children who should be afraid of _me_.”

She looked so broken at that moment that Klaus could not hold onto his anger, and his brow only furrowed deeper in confusion when she said again: “I’m sorry, but I can’t be Hope’s guardian. She deserves better than that. So…if you’re not letting me go, can we just get on with this?”

She stood her ground before him in a feat of silent resignation. Not fearful anymore, or angry. Just sad and defeated and so, so beautifully broken. Like a butterfly without its wings, waiting for death to relieve them of their fight.

Well if she wants release, she won’t have it.

He will _not_ let her go and he _absolutely_ will not let this lovely little warrior go down without a fight. He doesn’t know what she’s done or what’s happened to her to break her down so thoroughly that the thought of nannying a child make her wish for death, but he _will not_ let her have it.

If he had to face his demons to protect Hope, then so will she. This woman was exactly what Hope needed and he will accept nothing less on her behalf.

“I am not killing you, Melinda. For one thing, you are full of my blood, and in all your moralizing you’ve forgotten what I told you about humans who get caught dead with our blood in their systems. I wouldn’t do that to you. I will not change who you are.”

She can’t stop the stray tear that slides its way down her cheek, and she hates herself all the more for it.

“What are you so afraid of, Melinda?” His voice was the most gentle she’s ever heard it. He cupped his hand around her cheek to catch the tear and gingerly lifts her face up to his.

“I…” she falters under his touch, “I’m not a good person Klaus. I’m not nurturing or kind like most women are. With my line of work, I can’t afford to be.”

“And what line of work is that, sweetheart?”

She doesn’t know why she is telling him all of this, she was tired and she wanted to get out of here already, but his gaze held her forward and something in his eyes made her say:

“I’m a spy. I work for SHIELD, or I used to. I’ve killed people, Klaus.”

“And did they deserve it?”

He doesn’t waver, or let her go, or cast her out like he should. Because they are the same. She sees death in his eyes, feels it in the gentle circles he rubs along her chin, and she doesn’t think before she answers:

“Yes.”

“Then stay. Care for Hope. She needs a strong guardian like you and being around her may heal the broken wounds within your heart.”

“I…”

Melinda wanted to reject his offer again and run without looking back, but some invisible force was stopping her from doing so.

It was like there was a concrete wall blocking the thoughts on her tongue and instead acting like a channel for the desires of Klaus Mikaelson.

The bastard was compelling her.

She had no choice but to nod numbly and whisper: “Okay.”

Damn. She really needed to find a way to protect herself from this vampire mind-control shit.


	3. Chapter 3

A week later she was allowed to go shopping for clothes, with Rebekah as chaperone of course.

Elijah had given them both black cards with unknown spending limits, and though Melinda had been trained by both her parents and Shield in the art of frugality, she intended to make the haughty Original’s wallet suffer, just for fun.

They’d gone to every boutique and shopping center in the French Quarter, and Rebekah tried her best not to feel frustrated as Melinda kept choosing the same types of leather jackets, tight fitting jeans, and dark shirts at every store. It was like the woman only knew shades of black and grey.

“I’m a spy. We’re practical”, Melinda said in response to Rebekah’s judgy look as she inspected yet another black t-shirt.

She was impressed however with Melinda’s taste in shoes, which, while still confirming her affinity for black, were stylish boots and booties that always added a few stubborn inches to her height.

“Those aren’t very practical”, Rebekah commented as Melinda laced up a pair of suede booties she was trying on.

“No, I guess not”, Melinda murmured with a sly smile. “But I like them and they’re on sale.”

 “Do what you want, darling. It’s not like either of us are paying anyway.”

Next were workout clothes, which were a bit more selective for Melinda. She’d always ordered custom tops and pants from Shield, finding the materials better for her workout rituals than most mass-produced fabrics.

Now she had to work with less, grabbing a pair of black and sheer patterned leggings and a red sports bra. She bagged three more pairs of leggings, four tank tops, two other bras and a pair of sneakers and they were ready to go.

When loading the bags into the car, driven by some nameless vampire Klaus had under his thumb, Melinda saw Rebekah emerge from the designer store next door with a large ballgown tucked into a garment bag.

“We throw formal parties every so often to let the people of New Orleans know who’s in charge”, Rebekah explained, tossing the embroidered bag in the car. “As a member of the household you’ll be expected to go.”

Melinda couldn’t see what the dress looked like from inside the bag, but she glared as she glimpsed a blinding slit of silver sticking out from inside.

Rebekah smiled.

“I think it’s your color.”

When they got home that night Melinda was restless.

She stared sullenly out the window while Hope slept in her arms.

She had already tried – and failed – to escape several times, and though Klaus never hurt her, she could tell her rebellions and bad attitude was wearing thin on his patience. Not that he had a lot to begin with.

Three days into her forced stay Melinda learned that there was indeed a cure to vampiric compulsion.

Well, a ward against it, at least. An edible root called _vervain_ she could ingest in her twice-a-day cup of tea while feeding Hope her formula.

The bartender from the local pub visited the house that day, looking for Klaus while he and Elijah were out on business likely involving torture and murder. She felt sympathy for Melinda and gifted her with a large bagful of the plant she just happened to keep in handy.

There was no helping her escape the Mikaelsons, though.

They had eyes and ears everywhere and they outmatched her in spades.

The least she could do was spend their endless supply of money.

Elijah seemed to be as agitated as she was.

He kept pacing by the balcony as if he expected someone, throwing her scornful looks any time he remembered her presence in the room.

It was well past getting on her nerves.

“Do you want to say something Elijah?”, she asked after the fourth time he glared at her from his spot by the window.

“Hayley’s supposed to be coming home tomorrow.”

Melinda furrowed her brows even deeper.

“Is that supposed to ‒”

“She’s Hope’s mother.”

Oh. Klaus never mentioned the mother of his child, not even in passing. But the tense friction she’d noticed days ago between the brothers clearly had something to do with her.

“Klaus never mentioned her”, was all Melinda could say.

Elijah scoffed. “Of course not. Niklaus is the one who banished her, after all.”

“Banished?”

“Hayley is a wolf-vampire hybrid, like Niklaus. They disagreed over methods to protect Hope and he cursed her to remain in wolf-form for all days of the month except one. Tomorrow marks month four.”

Elijah still had his back to her but the pain in his voice was unmistakable. Melinda was going to go out a limb and bet that his concern for Hayley went deeper than a vague familial connection through his niece.

He was in love with her.

“I’m sorry.”

She understood it now. The dirty looks, the way he glowered at Klaus from the balcony when he played with Hope, and now staring at the nursery while a stranger sat in a handmade rocking chair, singing his niece to sleep while her mother was forced to stay away.

Even as she tried to help, Melinda had stolen another little girl from her mother.

“It’s not your fault, Melinda.”

Elijah had come out from under his hiding spot, confused by her sudden apology.

“I have taken my frustration out on you this week”, he admitted quietly. “That was unfair of me, and I apologize. You are as much a victim in all of this as Hayley, and Hope, and I would do better to remember that. Plus, I’m almost positive Hayley would adore you.”

He was extending a truce.

It was true she had been forced to stay here, just as Hayley was forced to stay away. But in that week, she had grown attached to the infant in her arms. Hope was still innocent, and blissfully unaware of all the weirdness she had the terrible luck of being born into.

Melinda looked up from Hope and met Elijah’s eyes.

“I can’t wait to meet her.”

**

He hears her coming about thirty seconds before she bursts through the door. Firstly, because he is a Hybrid, obviously, and also because she is very upset.

Klaus sets his sketchpad aside and sighs.

This should be fun.

“Why didn’t you tell me about Hayley?” is the first angry question that flies from her lips.

Klaus had already settled himself with a Scotch, and he sipped it nonchalantly while she continued to wear him down with that charming little glare of hers.

He was so used to seeing that look the past seven days, he was sure it was her default expression. Until he saw the way she looked at Hope.

It was like all the hatred, the fear, the anger that held her hostage inside her own mind dissipated when her dark eyes found the green ones of his infant daughter. It was… fascinating to watch.

“I didn’t feel it was necessary”, he returns to the present, trying his best to look bored at her intrusion.

“You didn’t feel it was necessary to tell me you _cursed_ the mother of the child I am now obligated to look after?”

“It was a family matter, love. Don’t take it personal.”

“You think this is me taking it personal? She is a Hybrid wolf, Klaus. I’m human. You think she’ll be happy to see me tomorrow, after you personally made sure she couldn’t be there for her daughter out of pettiness?”

For all her hopes that Hayley wouldn’t return angry, the bad blood in the Mikaelson family ran deep and from what she gathered, they always tended to drag others along with them.

“I will protect you if it comes to that”, Klaus rolled his eyes. “But I doubt Hayley will want to hurt you. I will most likely be the primary target of her rage. And speaking of pettiness, I have had it to my wits end with you and Elijah traipsing around here like I’m the second coming of Satan. So, I’m sending you out.”

Before she could lift an eyebrow he held up a finger and continued.

“Tomorrow you and Elijah will meet with Marcel, an old family friend. I’ve noticed you’ve been particularly antsy these past few days, and I figure you could blow off some steam. Marcel runs a gym out of the old church a few blocks down”, Klaus finally explained in response to Melinda’s questioning stare.

“You wouldn’t say no to some time with a punching bag, now would you?”

“I don’t know”, she raised a challenging brow.  “Can I?”

He chuckled. “You tell me, Melinda. Camille did give you a very generous supply of vervain the other day.”

She opens her mouth for a response and closes it.

“You see, when something is poisonous to you as a vampire, it tends to have a distinctive smell. I noticed you’ve been slipping it into Hope’s formula as well. Thank you for that.”

Melinda stills, not expecting the last part of Klaus’ remark.

“The things my family does, Melinda… people around us get hurt.”

He was staring at her grimly now, his expression serious.

“I have no right to say this, but I’m a selfish bastard who would do anything for that little girl. I’d like to safeguard her from the wicked deeds I’ve done – and will continue to do – for her protection as long as I possibly can.”

Melinda shielded her face behind her hair to hide the confusion and shock at his words.

He had no right to impress these things on her, to credit _her_ for Hope’s protection when she was really just being paranoid. It angered her, but it also made her heart swell in undeserved pride. Which of course, just angered her more.

"You know the answer to your question then”, she replied evenly, as if none of what he’d said even fazed her.

“Yes. And you know the answer to mine.”

He indulged her. He seemed to do that a lot.

“Make sure you wake early tomorrow and have your workout gear intact. From what I’ve read of Elijah’s credit card statements, that shouldn’t be a problem.”


	4. Chapter 4

“So…do vampires actually need sleep?”

Of all the questions he expected to hear as they walked through the crisp New Orleans air at six in the morning, this was not it.

Then again, Niklaus had told Elijah that first night how surprising their new nanny could be.

And it seemed to him that she enjoyed being so.

“Well, I’m not sure we have to, per say, but many of us do”, Elijah shrugged as they headed up the street.

He slowed his pace when they first began walking, but as they continued he could see it wasn’t necessary, as Melinda’s brisk walk easily matched his despite their height difference.

“It helps us feel human.”

She nodded politely, clearly disagreeing but not wanting to upset him so soon after they’d become civil.

“We don’t sleep upside down in crypts, Melinda. At least I don’t. Niklaus on the other hand…”

The joke earned Elijah a small smile, and he was satisfied as they settled into a more comfortable silence for the rest of their walk.

“Here it is”, Elijah stopped in front of the old church. He gestured for Melinda to go first while he held the door. She rolled her eyes at him but went inside.

“It sure looks welcoming”, she said dryly.

“Well, it’s not _24-hour fitness,”_ a familiar voice responded as he eased himself from the shadows, “but if you’re looking for somewhere to hit, this place should do it. Plus our equipment is vamp-proof, so say what you will about the ambiance, but I guarantee your workout is sturdy as hell, or your money back.”

He sauntered over to her with the confidence of a man who’s been charming all his life and gave her a dazzling smile.

“Hi, I’m Marcel Gerard. Welcome to New Orleans.”

Melinda was staunchly reminded of Trip as the handsome brown skinned man in front of her held out his hand in a genuine greeting. Her heart panged with sadness at the thought of her fallen friend, thinking the two men would immediately like each other.

Well, the fact that Marcel was a vampire might deter him a bit, but still.

“When Klaus told me that a small human woman handed him his ass as he attempted to kill her last week, I gotta say I didn’t expect the story to end with him recruiting you to be his nanny. You must have some pretty mad skills.”

Elijah sighed.

“If you’re done flirting, Marcellus, I suggest you begin this training session. Some of us don’t have all day.”

Marcel scoffed.

“Well your presence isn’t really required, so…”

“You expect me to leave her here alone?”

Melinda was about to snap that she didn’t need his protection when Marcel replied tiredly, “Just go see Hayley, man. We should be done around eleven.”

Elijah stood stiffly before making a decision. He eyed Marcel warily, but not with a great amount of mistrust, and Melinda knew from their banter that although they didn’t like each other there was some familiarity between the two men. He seemed to trust Marcel, albeit reluctantly, and Melinda was fairly sure he wouldn’t try anything with the threat of swift retribution from Klaus and Elijah hanging over his head.

She was also extremely anxious to hit something, and the punching bags in the corner did look sturdy.

“I’ll come back at eleven. You have my number and Klaus’ if anything goes wrong.”

“What about Rebekah?”

Melinda was sure the phone Klaus gave her on her second day had all three of the Mikaelsons’ numbers pre-programmed on it. Any SHIELD number she tried to dial came up disconnected – but that probably had more to do with the organization getting defunded yet again after its top agents were abducted by aliens and sent to space.

Elijah glanced again at Marcel, nervously this time.

“I think it’s best we don’t bring her into this.”

Melinda raised a brow while Marcel rolled his eyes. Elijah finally left, and before Marcel could utter some banal phrase like ‘let’s get started’, Melinda had already wrapped tape on her knuckles and was duking it out with the bag.

It was harder than the average bag; Marcel hadn’t been lying when he’d said it was fit for supernatural bouts of strength. Even Daisy couldn’t knock the thing off its concrete enforced hinges.

“Well okay then.”

Marcel didn’t try to interfere as she fired rapid punches and some swift kicks until she paused to catch her breath.

“I think you’re holding back.”

Melinda sighed. “I like working with things that hit me back.”

Marcel raised a disbelieving brow and she modified, “that _try_ to hit back. Hitting this stupid bag and watching nothing happen to it, it – it makes me feel useless.”

He took a step closer. “And there’s the heart of the problem. You’re a protector, Melinda, you’ve always shielded people with your body. And for the first time, you don’t know how to do that because you’re so out of your element.”

Melinda stepped back with a closed off expression.

“So you’re a therapist now. You should know I don’t have the best history with those.”

 She stood defensively, crossing her arms with an almost petulant kind of defiance. Marcel was starting to see why the Mikaelsons found interest in Melinda; she loved to play the role of straightwoman but, like them, could be very dramatic.

It took a great deal of energy for him not to roll his eyes.

“You can relax, I was only going to relate it back to how you can start physically learning to defend yourself and Hope from at least some of the shit that comes with this city. Starting with vamps like me.”

“You’re going to teach me how to fight vampires”, her brows arched comically to the top of her head, the line said so sarcastically it sounded more like a statement than a question.

Marcel didn’t back off under her stare though. Instead he directed her attention to the centerpiece of the gym: a twenty-foot high metal cage with a boxing ring inside of it.

He walked towards the entrance of the cage and Melinda followed despite herself, curiosity taking over. Marcel unlocked a hatch in the cage and let them in. The gate swung shut behind them and he held the ropes open for her to enter. Securing the tape on her hands, Melinda stepped inside. Then a fist was aimed at her face and bare instinct took over.

She blocked his fist with one arm and twisted both of his behind his back, waiting for a grunt or cry out to signal his surrender. It never came.

Instead he sped out of the hold, appearing behind her this time, using his enhanced strength to pin her hands behind her back. She responded by digging a firm heel into his shin and used his lapse of focus as an opening for a front flip that landed the vamp on his back.

But in the time it took her regain her footing, approximately half a second, Marcel had already vanished from the spot. He was now lounging in the far corner of the ring, smirking.

She growled and lunged at his side, but he was too quick, dodging her punch and tossing her flat on the matt before she could even realize what was happening.

“How is getting my ass kicked supposed to help with this?”

Marcel circled over to where she laid, glancing over her body to make sure she wasn’t injured by his maneuver.

“I take it you’re someone who hasn’t lost a fight in a while. This is to remind you that you will never, ever, beat a vampire as a human. The power imbalance is too great.”

“Encouraging.”

“But you can occasionally outsmart us. Wanna get up and stop sulking so I can show you how?”

He reached an arm out and Melinda took it, hauling herself up with a glint in her eye and a new sense of purpose. She cocked her head at him and he walked over to the far edge of the ring, reaching under the ropes to grab a black duffel bag and a large wooden staff.

“You’re gonna laugh, or think this is stupid, but you need to see this” He pulled out a wooden stake. “Stab me with this.”

She crossed her arms again and sighed.

“Now you’re just screwing with me.”

“Some myths are real, Melinda. Now come on. And uh, not in anywhere fatal, these things can pack a punch.”

Trying not to roll her eyes, Melinda took the stake from Marcel’s hand and thrust it into his abdomen.

Sure enough he cried out, and when she pulled out the wooden stake the tips were indeed covered in his blood.

Huh. Some myths were real.

Almost as soon as the wound appeared, it started to close up. Melinda knelt by the vampire and watched with widened eyes as the last bits of wounded flesh reconnected itself, and only the bloodstain on Marcel’s v-neck shirt was left behind.  

They got back on their feet at the same time and Marcel lifted his shirt to show her the smooth canvas of skin where she’d stabbed him just a moment earlier.

“Now you might be noticing how quickly this healed, but that’s only because you pulled it out immediately. Do the same thing with the staff, but don’t pull it out this time.”

Melinda looked warily at her trainer.

“You’re sure about this?”

He nodded. “It won’t kill me.”

Still hesitant, Melinda grabbed the wooden staff.

She twirled it in her hands for a moment, admiring how light it was compared to the Kree staff she’d used to fight when she was trapped in their arena.

Then with a grunt of her own she impaled the vampire in the back and waited like he said.

Marcel grimaced, and then he grew still.

“Marcel?” Melinda looked down at him nervously.

His breathing resumed and Melinda sighed in relief, but the vampire’s breaths were shallow and ragged as blood seeped out of both ends of the wound.

“As long as this thing is in me”, he panted, “I’ll be stuck here. If you stabbed me in the heart, jugular, or brain I would die.”

She nodded. Melinda stepped forward to remove the stake, sensing the demonstration was over, when Marcel waved her off.

“I got it.”

He pulled the staff out in a hurry, cringing the entire time. Melinda guessed the effort hurt him a lot more than he put on. She saved the old-school Buffy tactic away for later.

Marcel got to his feet with some difficulty, and when he lifted his shirt to show her the damage, she saw a gaping hole through his middle back that eerily reminded her of her leg injury that was healed by Klaus’ blood.

“It’ll heal, just like the other one,” Marcel assured her. “There’s another tactic you can use to incapacitate a vampire without killing them, but I’d rather not be the guinea pig for this one. Josh? Come on out, buddy.”

Still processing a whirlwind of information, Melinda cautiously followed Marcel’s gaze to the far end of the gym, where a boy who looked no older than nineteen was waiting for his signal to approach the cage.

To Melinda’s slight relief, he didn’t look any happier to be there than she was.

“When you said you wanted me to help you train today,” Josh said, dumping his duffel bag on the matt and leaning grumpily against the ropes, “I didn’t think you meant playing practice dummy for the Mikaelson’s new nanny, who apparently also doubles as an MMA fighter. Not a great start to my morning.”

Choosing to ignore Josh’s complaints, Marcel clapped his hand on the young man’s back and introduced the two of them. Then he looked at her and prepared to give his next instructions when Josh interrupted, “He wants you to snap my neck.”

Melinda’s brows went sky high and Josh almost wanted to laugh. Almost.

Sighing, Marcel reassured his human trainee. “It’ll only knock him out a few hours. Nothing permanent, just some neck pain that’ll go away as soon as he feels it. That’s all.”

Right. Just snapping a teenage vampire’s neck to knock him out a few hours in a rusty church-gym where the vampires of Bourbon Street go to cage fight each other. That’s all.

Melinda sighed. “Is there anything else I need to know before I do this?”

Marcel shook his head. “There’s not a big difference between snapping a vampire’s neck and human one – “

“- Besides the fact that we wake up and humans don’t”, said Josh.

 “- So as long as you know how snap a human neck – “

“- I do.”

She walked up to Josh with apologetic eyes. “I’m sorry about this, kid. Maybe when you wake up, I’ll get you a drink, if you’re old enough.”

He smiled.

“My neck’s been snapped plenty of times, honestly, it’s not that bad once you get used to it. And technically I’m 19, I was turned at 18, but I’m a vampire and friends with the owner of the bar next door, so I guess a drink would be nice, yeah.”

Melinda smiled back. Then she placed her hands on his head and twisted it sideways.

**

“A bar next door to an old church,” Melinda snorted as she drank a sip of her whiskey. She felt like a pain in the ass, but Cami was only too happy to oblige her with a bottle of Haig she’d just happened to have in the cellar. “Sounds like the intro of a joke.”

“Yeah, bit of a family heirloom, actually”, the blonde chuckled, pouring her own shot of the liquid as well. “Both the bar _and_ the church. So in a way it kind of _is_ the intro of a joke.”

She walked over to Melinda’s side of the bar and sat down. Rousseau’s was practically empty this time of day, with only locals and high functioning alcoholics patronizing the place mid-morning.

Josh was in the extra room upstairs, still unconscious.

“But anyway. How has the vervain been working?”

Melinda smiled. “It’s been great. Thank you, Cami. I feed it to Hope too, just in case.”

“That’s good. I don’t think anyone in that family would ever hurt her, but it’s nice for her to have the extra protection, you know. Too much shit happens around here for you to really let your guard down.”

Melinda nodded, understanding exactly what Cami was saying. Marcel left them promptly after dropping Josh off upstairs, and Melinda sent Elijah a text ten minutes earlier saying she was with Cami and not to expect her at the mansion until later that evening.

She had a feeling it wouldn’t stop the vampire from coming to Rousseau’s and spying on her anyway, but if he tried to take her home, she’d use a few of the tricks she learned today to kick his ass.

Her and Cami chatted idly about Hope for a few minutes before they saw Josh make his way to the bar.

“Hey sleepyhead,” joked Cami. She smiled fondly at him and he rolled his eyes. He reached over her head to the Haig and poured himself a very generous shot.

“Good morning, Cami. Melinda. It is still morning, right?”

“It’s 10:30”, Melinda nodded. She knew Josh was joking, but she still felt guilty about knocking him out in such a crude way. Which was ironic, since anyone else she’d done the same to was never expected to wake up.

“Good. Happy happy hour.” Josh held up his glass for a toast and they followed suit. Melinda drank down the rest of the shot and poured herself another.

Josh looked his glass as if seeing it for the first time as the whiskey burned his throat. “Ugh. What is this?”

Melinda smiled at his facial expression and Cami tried to suppress a giggle.

“It’s a Scottish whiskey called Haig. At Shield, my partner and I had this bottle, but we never got around to drinking it”, Melinda snorted, remembering her LMD, “at least not together.”

As far as anyone else knew, Shield was dead. It’s the reason why Klaus and Elijah never questioned her about her about her time with Shield, or about the team they didn’t know she had. Sometimes it was better to stay in the shadows.

“I’m sorry.”

She looked up. “For what?”

“It isn’t fair that the Mikaelsons just ripped you away from your life like that,” Josh said, with enough bitterness in his tone to make Melinda pause.

“Then again, that’s their MO. Destroying everyone else’s families for the sake of their own. Always and forever.”

“Josh….” Cami gave him a wary look. She could sense the pattern of his thoughts and knew instinctively they led to nowhere good.

Josh waved off her concern with mounting frustration.

“No Cami, I need to say it. I know you have feelings for Klaus, or whatever, and Melinda, they might not seem that bad to you yet, but trust me. Klaus Mikaelson and his family are evil.”

Josh’s voice rose an octave and his eyes shined with an anger Melinda almost didn’t think the boy was capable of. _Vampire,_ she corrected herself. Young or not, he was dangerous; they all were.

And he went on.

“Klaus stole my life, my future, my friends…do you know what he did to my boyfriend two weeks before he kidnapped you, Melinda?”

She shook her head.

“Oh, I’ll tell you. _He ripped his heart out!_ Left him to die in an alley.” Josh chuckled in a manic sort of way before he continued.

“That’s not the worst of it. Klaus, he um…he took Aiden’s heart out, and he brought to me. Dumped it right in front of my face. To prove a fucking point. _This is what the Mikaelsons do to people who don’t fall in line. This_ is how they prove points! They murder because they feel like it, and they will ruin your fucking life out of spite or boredom! They’ll do it to you too, as soon one of you steps out of line. Don’t ever forget that.”

He downed whatever was left of the Haig and tossed the bottle at the opposite wall. Melinda’s knuckles gripped her empty glass so hard they threatened to turn white. Cami, meanwhile, had turned a soft shade of green at some point during Josh’s story.

They didn’t jump when glass exploded on the other side of the bar. Neither did the few patrons that were there.

As if he’d been summoned, Elijah burst into the pub a few moments later, wearing a stormy expression. He addressed Melinda only.

“We need to go.”

His tone bared no argument, but Melinda didn’t give a damn.

She didn’t move a muscle when she replied, “I told you I wanted more time.” Her back was to Elijah, still facing the bar, and she didn’t look up to acknowledge his presence.

Elijah inhaled deeply and she could only guess that he was standing over her impatiently with a hand gripping the bridge of his nose.

“I’m in no mood for this, Melinda. We are needed at the house right away. Come with me _now._ ”

Melinda was just about to tell Elijah to kiss her ass when Josh stepped in.

“She said she doesn’t want to go, man,” Josh said. “Back off.”

If Elijah had been angry before, his current expression was simply murderous. Cami tried to shoo Josh away from the Original, but it was too late. Elijah took an advancing step towards Josh and flashed his eyes.

“Normally I would find such a display from you adorable, Joshua, but right now I’m in no mood for games. Move, or I will end you just as swiftly as Niklaus ended your dear Aiden. I’d rather not leave Camille to clean up such a ghastly mess, how about you?”

“Leave him alone, Elijah!” cried Cami.

But Josh stared back at the elder Mikaelson unafraid. He was flexing a vein in his forehead, and when Melinda finally turned around, she was faced with the sight of two vampires baring their fangs at each other.

With widened eyes, she attempted to get between them.

“Maybe she’s sick of getting pushed around by you and your shitty family, like everyone else. I mean its fair, right? You did kidnap her and force her to play house with your psycho brother’s kid.”

Elijah chuckled, but the sound lacked humor and rang out eerie instead.

“Melinda has more or less been here of her own will since that first night. But that doesn’t fit into your little narrative now does it, Joshua.”

“‘More or less’”, Josh scoffed. “You can’t even see how messed up that is.”

Elijah’s face closed off. “I’m done talking.”

He flipped the closest barstool on its head and slammed it against the counter. He picked up the largest piece of rubble and was presumably about to murder Josh with it before Melinda stepped in with her arms spread between them.

“Elijah, that’s enough! Let’s go.”

She glared as they headed out of Rousseau’s, leaving Cami to deal with a still seething Josh and the broken shards of her favorite whiskey.

Elijah didn’t wait. He took off in a panicked walk that hardly matched his stroll from this morning.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Melinda asked. “You almost killed that boy!”

“He was being a nuisance”, Elijah replied without remorse. “And it’s a nice time to remind you that Joshua is no ordinary 18-year-old. He could quite literally kill you with a snap of his fingers.”

“So could you.”

Elijah sped up and Melinda struggled to keep pace.

“You need to walk faster, Melinda. We’ve wasted too much time already.”

“Sorry for being a puny human,” she muttered, forgetting for a second about Elijah’s enhanced hearing.

Elijah stopped abruptly and Melinda dodged quickly to the side to avoid bumping into him. Her words gave him an idea.

She glared at his back, asking what the hold up was.

Telling her would only vex her further, he decided.

Melinda felt the ground vanish under her feet and realized with horror that Elijah had picked her up and hoisted her over his back.

“What the hell are you doing!?”, she yelled. “Put me down!” She threw a few fruitless punches at his back, which Elijah ignored, and when Melinda tried to kick out, he used his free hand to grab her legs.

“Close your eyes,” he commanded.

“Go fuck yourself,” she spat instead.

Sighing, Elijah braced her head against his shoulder and raced towards the Mikaelson estate at full speed.

**

In retrospect, she probably should have closed her eyes.

Flying through town at vampire speed had not proven to be enjoyable, at least not from her perspective.

Elijah set her down on a plush patio chair by the front gate. She promptly brushed his hands away and stood up, then sat back down after a rush of blood swam to her head. Melinda held back a groan, knowing it would make Elijah smug, but just barely.

“I told you to close your eyes,” he chastised her quietly.

She glared up at his face and winced at the wave of dizziness that followed.

“What’s going on Elijah?”, she asked wearily, her vertigo taking the fight out of her. “Why are you doing all this?”

“To keep Klaus and Hayley from tearing each other apart”, he sighed. “I knew Hayley would be angry, but…do you know that they’ve been fighting since shortly after you left this morning?”

Elijah sank down into the chair next to her and placed his head in his hands. This had to be the most distressed she’d ever seen him.

“Rebekah took off last night, not wanting to be in town when this happened, and I…well, I get to mediate. When your vertigo subsides, Melinda, I urge you to take a good look around the house.”

She did, and though there was still a slight ringing in her head that made some of the finer details of her surroundings blurry, there was no denying that the place was in shambles. The Mikaelson estate looked as if a tornado passed through it, with bookcases and tables overturned, decorations in pieces, and blood staining the ends of various debris pulled from wooden furniture.

There was a shouting match that was gradually coming closer, and Melinda gripped the sides of her head when the two Hybrids that caused it all came wandering into the foyer.

She’d be less upset about Rebekah’s hasty departure if only she’d had the foresight of taking Melinda with her.

“Your back,” Klaus said. “That was fast. You must have thrown Melinda on your back like a feral little sack of potatoes didn’t you, brother? I’ll bet she was thrilled about that.”

Klaus strolled in like his house wasn’t currently a disaster of his own making and took a seat on the armrest of her chair. Melinda jumped out of the seat in protest and elected to stand instead, her head no longer swimming from their unwelcome travel method.

A stranger with Hope’s green eyes and brown hair past her shoulders lingered in the threshold of the garden. Melinda could tell from her body language that she was still defensive, but not angry the way she was when she argued with Klaus upstairs.

This woman could be no one other than Hope’s mother Hayley.

Melinda spared a wary glance at Hayley before hardening her gaze again at her so-called “employer”. He smirked.

“Good morning love. I take it your training went well.”

“What the fuck am I doing here Klaus?”

She had just wanted to spend the day catching up on her workouts, maybe have a glass or two of whiskey on the way. Getting caught in the middle of this…supernatural domestic spat was not in the itinerary she’d conjured up in her mind.

Hayley raised an eyebrow. She addressed Melinda for the first time, sounding more curious than anything.

“Not to be rude or anything, Melinda, but I was just about to ask you the same question.”

Melinda snorted. “Well what’s stopping you?”

Hayley looked properly chastised for a moment and took a few steps closer. Not close enough to put Melinda ill at ease, she noticed, but enough to try to bridge the gap between them.

“How exactly did Klaus find you, Melinda? What did he say to make you stay?” Hayley’s tone was not unkind, and Melinda answered her truthfully.

“He found me in an alley by Rousseau’s. I…I was lost, I didn’t know where I was. Klaus tried to kill me, or…eat me, I think. And when I wouldn’t let him, he compelled me. Next thing I know I’m in Rebekah’s room, next to Hope’s nursery. Klaus came to me with an offer to be Hope’s guardian and I declined, then he compelled me again to accept his offer and stay here. I found out what vervain was four days ago and I’ve been on it ever since. Whether you believe me or not is on you, Hayley, but that’s my story.”

Hayley pursed her lips and glared at Klaus. She chuckled.

“So I get cursed and sent out of the house because apparently I can’t be trusted to raise my own daughter, and instead of stepping up and being the _amazing_ father you claim to be, you kidnap an innocent woman and _compel her_ to watch Hope instead. Be more typical, Klaus, I dare you.”

“Spare me your righteous judgements, Hayley. I was right to make to make that call and I would do it again! If your behavior today has taught me anything, it’s that I was too kind in giving you a single day to roam around on two legs! Clearly you’re too unstable to be around our daughter anyway!”

 Hayley sped in the garden in an instant and wrapped her hands around his throat.

“My daughter started crawling ten weeks ago and I missed it because of you. She said her first word six weeks ago, and I missed it, _because of you_. Hope is nearly nine months old, which means she’s going to start walking soon. And if I miss _that_ because of you and your dipshit ego, I’m going to murder you, Klaus. I’m going tear you apart like you tore me from my daughter, because that is how I feel _every day_ I’m in the bayou, living as the part of me you despise most in yourself. You won’t keep Hope from me forever, I swear to God. You and I will both die before I let that happen.”

Klaus bared his fangs. “Unless you want your death wish delivered early Hayley, I suggest you take your bloody hands off me. All this time you’ve spent fighting with me, yet my daughter remains unaware, sleeping blissfully in her crib.”

He pushed Hayley’s hands away from his throat and backed her into a corner. “Clock’s ticking sweetheart. Better hold Hope in your arms whilst you still have opposable thumbs.”

He mocked her with a small gesture with his hands and turned his back on them, closing himself in his study before anyone else could respond.

Hayley sent a determined glance towards Elijah. “I’m going upstairs to get Hope and then leaving this house until I change back at midnight,” she says. Her tone bared no room for compromise or argument. “Are you coming with me or not?”

Elijah nodded, looking stricken.

“Good”, Hayley replied. She turned toward Melinda, unsure what to think of her as the dust settled.

An apology started to tumble from her lips before Melinda stopped her.

“Her diaper bag is upstairs”, Melinda said. “It has a powdered form of vervain that I feed her twice a day and a new winter coat inside.”

Hayley walked up to Melinda and earnestly took her hand. “Thank you.”

Melinda swallowed thickly and nodded once. “You’re her mother. Now go.”

Hayley smiled one more time and disappeared, reappearing at the gate seconds later with Hope’s carrier in her arms and the diaper bag over her shoulder. Elijah opened the gate for her and gave Melinda a parting nod before they sped off in the opposite direction of the town.

Melinda sighed and made her way across the piles of debris to her room upstairs.

**

The next morning Melinda woke up about an hour later than usual, and she stayed her room until she couldn’t stand being cooped up any longer. She opened the door to find the house spotless, no evidence of the dysfunction that took place yesterday besides the faint cries coming from Hope’s nursery next door.

She was barely crossing the threshold, however, when she heard the sounds of a scuffle down below. Sighing, Melinda prepared to ignore what was likely Klaus and Elijah still working out their issues from yesterday when she paused.

Down below, she saw Lance Hunter huddled on the first floor of the Mikaelson mansion, droplets of blood moving down his nose onto the hastily cleaned tiles. His breathing was labored and his knees were shaky, looking ready to give out with each passing second. 

He smirked defiantly up at Klaus as another series of blows hit his ribs.


	5. Chapter 5

NINE DAYS AGO – SPACE (75 YEARS IN THE FUTURE)

Alarms blared and lights danced their way across the lighthouse floor, casting the normally bleak building in a foreboding red glow. They were finally getting the hell out of this creepy place for good, and their alien captors weren’t too happy about it.

 _If_ Melinda May could keep her team together, that was.

She knew three things so far: they had a confirmed exit with the new monolith, courtesy of Mack and YoYo’s pseudo-adopted Inhuman son, Flint. She knew Elena had just rescued Mack from Kasius’ prison and they were currently on their way here. She knew Fitzsimmons were already at the rendezvous site, waiting until the team was united to cross back in time.

Her and Phil made their way across the corridor, fighting off any Kree that tried to get in their way. Daisy lingered behind, feeling anxious about her supposed role in the destruction of Earth as they saw it. Melinda had tried to go to her, but Phil waved her off, telling her not to add extra stress on account of her injuries and to let him handle it instead. She gave him a long-suffering look, feeling frustrated and slightly patronized by his constant fussing over her leg, but in the end, she nodded her head and went off to find the others.

Melinda’s injury wasn’t a big deal to her, she had a high pain tolerance and could handle much worse. But she could tell it had worried the team, if their side-long glances and constant fretting over her whereabouts were anything to go by. Melinda had to remind herself that they loved her and weren’t trying to embarrass her, but how the hell else was she supposed to feel when they treated her like some fragile old lady who could bust a hip at any second.

She wasn’t in denial; she knew she was getting older, but watching Fitzsimmons and Daisy, who she knew for a fact couldn’t throw a decent punch to save their lives when she met them, operate with so much skill and efficiency in the field these days…maybe she was finally having that midlife crisis Hunter teased her about back when.

Melinda very nearly bumped into Mack’s chest as he and Elena came barreling past. Elena shot her a brief look of apology before they continued down the corridor without a word. Mack looked like he’d just seen a ghost, or worse. She shook her head, focusing on the task that was making sure her team made it back to Earth in the correct timeline. Everything else could be sorted out later.

She limped her way across the corridor, deliberately choosing not to use the staff Phil had stolen from a Kree officer for her as support. She had barely crossed the threshold of the room the monolith was contained in when pale arms threw themselves across her neck in an embrace. Melinda tensed automatically before realizing who it was, and she eased herself into Simmons’ embrace and gave her a tentative pat on the shoulder.

“Easy, Jemma,” a familiar Scottish voice chided gently from her side. “We don’t want to upset May’s injuries because we’re happy to see her. Even when we get back, there’s no telling how long it’ll take her to heal.”

Melinda tried and failed to hold back a sigh as Simmons stepped back with a horrified expression and launched into a medical inspection of her leg.

“Oh dear,” the scientist murmured, “it’s worse than I thought. Not quite infected yet but it’s only a matter of time. May, when was the last time you changed these bandages?”

“I don’t know, Jemma”, she rolled her eyes. “Between getting chased around by that blue psychopath and being forced to fight to the death in an arena, it’s been hard to find the right time. Thanks for that by the way Fitz.”

“I had a cover to maintain!” Fitz defended, spreading out his arms before looking down. “I am sorry about the ‘has been’ comment, though. Perhaps that was a bit overkill.” Melinda only hummed in response.

She was being a little sassier than they probably deserved, but she really did wish to spend a night in her bed and put this crap behind them. Mack and YoYo walked in then, looking solemn but a lot more collected then when she saw them a few minutes ago.

Mack opened his mouth and Melinda waved off his apology. “It’s fine, Mack. Lets just focus on getting our team back to the present and out of this fascist space dungeon once and for all.”

“Right.” Fitz nodded beside her. “Speaking of, where are Coulson and Daisy? They know we don’t have a lot of time here.”

Melinda sighed. “Daisy has some…mixed feelings about returning to the present. Coulson went to talk some sense into her before she does something self-sacrificial and stupid.”

“Oh God,” Simmons sighed. “She wants to stay here so she never…dammit Daisy! She can’t stay here, May! Kasius and his men will kill her the moment they find her.”

“Not to mention everyone else wants her dead too”, Mack pointed out. “We can’t leave Tremors here.”

“I know that!,” she snapped. “That’s why Coulson went to go find her. In the meantime, you guys made sure the monolith is safe to use?”

Elena nodded.

“I watched Flint put it together. I know it will work. We can go home.”

Elena smiled, and it seemed to catch on across the room. They could finally go home, wherever the hell that meant anymore, as their only base was destroyed in the robot-pocalypse that precluded their time in the Framework.

Just then Coulson came rushing in with an unconscious Daisy in his arms, prompting mixed reactions from the team. Melinda noticed the icer shoved into his back pocket and shook her head.

“Tell me you didn’t, Phil.”

Phil looked sad as glanced at the girl in his arms, but not apologetic. “I had to. She wouldn’t listen to reason.”

“Guys we’ve got to go,” Fitz said, steering them to the containment chamber.

“She’ll forgive you”, Simmons smiled.

Mack clapped Coulson on the shoulder. “I would’ve done the same thing, sir.”

Elena glanced over at Melinda and took her arm, ignoring the glares from the woman as she led them to the monolith’s door.

“I’m sure May would like us to hurry up,” Elena said. “ _Vamos, agentes._ Before crazy blue lady comes and chops our heads off.”

Mack cringed at something invisible and Elena looked sheepish. “Sorry _cariño_. Too soon.”

The rest of the team was too exhausted to try to figure out what that meant.

They spread out across the monolith in a circle.

“Are we all good?” Melinda asked.

Her team members (the conscious ones) nodded. Mack’s brows furrowed.

“We don’t need to hold hands or anything, do we?”

The agents lifted their brows in unison and the monolith liquified, sweeping them away in a milky white substance before they could answer Mack’s question.

**

They’d all been pulled in different directions.

Mack was found in Ohio. YoYo in New York, which must have been fun for her.

Daisy was picked up in Alaska, remarkably less fun. Coulson and Fitz strangely ended up less than five miles from each other at their old base in Pasadena.

Simmons was found the next day in Milwaukee of all places.

Which left…

“Where the hell is May? It’s been three days and there’s still no sign of her.”

Daisy stood in the middle of the Zephyr’s control room with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face that rivaled those of the woman she mentioned.

Was she pissed that Coulson brought her back to a timeline where she destroys the world without her consent and that she figured it out in _Alaska_ of all places? Absolutely. And they had quite a few words about that the second she got on board. But her worry over May trumped every feeling after that, and it was only getting worse the longer the woman she considered a better mother to her than the real thing stayed missing.

Coulson came up behind her with the same look of hard determination on his face.

“Daisy’s right. We’ve sat around long enough. We need to go out there and find May ourselves.”

Mack banged his fist on the table. “We’ve talked about this Coulson! You know we can’t go out there with a search party, it’s too dangerous.”

“And what the hell are we supposed to do Mack?!”, Coulson fired back. “Twiddle our thumbs and wait for May to limp her way inside, eventually? I don’t think so. If May hasn’t found her way back to us yet, it means she got stuck in some trouble.”

 His voice softened.

“She’s on a bad leg, Mack. And she’s exhausted. I’m not sure May can fight herself out of whatever trouble she’s in without help, and leaving her out to dry is not an option.”

Fitz rubbed a hand over his face. “Daisy and I have scoured the surveillance systems and we’ve been actively looking for any disturbances in the space-time continuum to signal her arrival. We know she’s _here,_ in the present, but we have no idea where. The signal went dark three days ago.”

“She has to be somewhere in the continental US, though”, Daisy said. “I don’t know how to explain it but I…felt the ground move when we landed. She could be anywhere in the East Coast.”

“We should start looking then,” Simmons said. “Monitor every convenience store, bank, streetlight camera in the country until Agent May is found and sitting in this room with us. We’re not gonna leave her behind.”

Mack pinched the bridge of his nose. “Am I really the only one who still remembers that we are fugitives right now? We’re being hunted every damn second of the day by the US government _and_ Hydra, which you all seem to forget still exists! Turn on any damn screen and you’ll see news reports calling us terrorists! We have no base, no back up, and of handful of people in the world who don’t want us dead! I want May back too, but we can’t go out with some halfcocked search-and-rescue plan. That’s stupid, and May would be pissed off to hear about us doing something stupid in her name and you guys know it. So let’s sit the hell back down and think of a plan that would make May proud, not pissed, got that? Good.”

The room had fallen silent. The other agents and Daisy in particular weren’t very pleased with Mack’s big speech, but they also knew he was right, so they said nothing.

Coulson stared off at a wall for a whole minute.

“Hunted. We’re being hunted.” Coulson was murmuring to no one in particular and everyone in the control room looked at him blankly.

“Now he listens,” Mack muttered. “Yeah Coulson, we’re being hunted. Which is why its not smart to go Bond right now. We can still find May another way once we quit arguing and put our heads together.”

Coulson shook his head, apparently awake from his daze. “No, I mean…you make a good point, Mack, about us being fugitives. But with May’s life on the line, we have to send someone out to look for her. Someone who isn’t currently a priority on the FBI watchlist.”

Daisy raised a brow. She thought she knew where he was going with this, but she had to be sure. “What are you saying, Coulson?”

“Yeah, please fill us in, sir, because I’m drawing a blank here,” said Fitz.

As soon as he spoke, Coulson looked up and gazed at Fitz sharply.

“Are you still in contact with Hunter?”

“Yeah. I mean, I don’t know where he is currently, but I talked to him not long ago.”

Elena entered the room. “You think he’d be willing to help us find May?”

“I think he’d say yes to just about anything we ask, and I know he’s dying to talk to us again”, answered Fitz.

“Would you give him a call right now please?”

“Of course, sir.”

Fitz stepped out of the control room, fingers already scrolling his phone for Hunter’s number. Coulson looked around at the rest of his team.

“These last few days – hell, these last few _years,_ have been tough on all of us. But May’s been there for us the whole time, keeping an eye out and watching our backs. Wherever she is I know she’s fighting to get back with us, her team, and we need to make sure she does. Guys, we _will_ find Agent May.” Coulson’s gaze lands on Daisy, who nods at his words while blinking back tears.

“And we’re gonna bring her home.”

**

SIX DAYS AGO - HOUSTON, TEXAS

Hunter didn’t like seeing his old teammates names and photos plastered on every TV screen of each bar he went to following his latest ‘break’ with Bobbi.

For one thing he’d rather be watching football, _real football,_ instead of listening to random wankers on CNN blabber on about how SHIELD was a threat to humanity and that the supposed actions of a ‘homicidal vigilante and a team of former government workers with a flagrant disrespect of the law’ was ‘uprooting the very pillars of democracy that this country once stood for’.

Those ungrateful bastards wouldn’t have soil to stand on at all if it wasn’t for those people at SHIELD that he once called his own. And that is not even counting any of their recent exploits, where they stopped a murderous sex-bot from enslaving humanity and preventing the earth from being conquered by blue aliens in the future.

Granted, Fitz himself did help create the murder sex-bot thing, or so Hunter had heard from Bobbi, but still. Seeing SHIELD get treated like pariahs for simply doing their jobs and for sticking true to the oath that he and Bobbi had risked everything to uphold was really starting grate on Hunter’s nerves.

He ordered himself another beer.

His phone buzzed on the table and Hunter prepared to let it go to voicemail, which he hadn’t set up and didn’t plan to due to it being a burner, until he looked at the name on the screen. He picked up on the second ring.

“Fitz! You have cell reception again, which means that wherever you are, it’s some place on earth, where the world is intact and aliens haven’t enslaved the feeble remainders of the human race. Welcome back, mate.”

Fitz doesn’t answer Hunter’s teasing with a smart mouthed reply of his own and it immediately makes Hunter sit up straighter in worry.

“This isn’t a social call then”, Hunter sighed. “What’s gone wrong this time?”

“May is missing.”

Hunter blinked. He’d thought he’d misheard his friend on the other line. He thought he’d just heard Fitz say something totally outrageous, like Melinda May was missing, in a clipped tone that sounded like it was trying way too hard not to sound frantic.

“I’m sorry, did you just say that May is missing? May as in Melinda May, and missing an in from SHIELD?”

Fitz sighed on the other line. If he knew the man, he was probably standing on the Zephyr somewhere, pacing, most likely, and running a hand across his face.

“We all came back from that bloody space dungeon in different places, Hunter. It took the rest of us two days just to locate each other. Now three have passed and May is still off the grid. We’re thinking she must have got marooned somewhere where she can’t reach out for help.”

Right. As if May was the kind to ask for help in the first place.

“I know what you’re thinking, but this is serious, Hunter. We’re all really worried about her.”

Hunter sighed and tried his best to sound comforting. It was hard, given that he was three beers deep at this point.

“Yeah Fitz, I know. What do you need me to do?”

**

NINE DAYS AGO – NEW ORLEANS, FRENCH QUARTER

She felt the white substance from the monolith wash under her feet before it vanished.

Or rather, _she_ vanished.

The loud sounds from the lighthouse were replaced by chirping and other outside noises, and the stark whiteness of the monolith was replaced by a single overhead streetlamp on an otherwise dark road.

So they made it then. She was home…well, maybe not yet, but at least she was back on earth. One step closer to that hot bath and warm bed that she so deserved after everything.

The leg was still giving her hell, but Melinda had learned long ago to appreciate a small victory when she got one.

She limped her way over to the streetlight and settled herself against the surface. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness before gazing out at her surroundings.

Buildings were high rise, so that meant she was somewhere that caught a lot of hurricanes. Banners and lights adorned the rooftops of every building. There was either a bar, liquor store, or a magic shop around every corner. The buildings were long and high, and small trees blew softly in the night breeze between the floor of every building.

The monolith took her to New Orleans.

Melinda sighed. She hasn’t been in the French Quarter since Katrina hit, and she was hoping to return to the city under more pleasant circumstances. She shook her head and got moving, pulling her leg along with her.

She traveled no more than two feet before her chest connected with something solid.

She couldn’t find the energy to apologize to whoever she just ran into and planned to plant her feet and glare at the guy until he squirmed and backed away.

This guy, however, wasn’t budging. Looks like she was gearing up for a fight after all.

He put his hand on Melinda’s shoulders as if to hold her up and smirked.

“You should be more careful, love.”

**

TWO DAYS AGO – THE LIGHTHOUSE (PRESENT)

Everyone was seriously freaking out.

Daisy and Coulson more than anyone, but at least Coulson was able put on a good face for the team.

Daisy couldn’t make herself do it.

She checked out after the third day they’d sent Hunter to find her and he came back to them _again_ with no helpful information, if any at all. He probably just spent his days going out and getting wasted.

Daisy sighed. Blaming Hunter for not immediately stumbling onto May’s whereabouts wouldn’t do her any good, so she decided to do what May would do instead: pent up her emotions until they formed a giant ball of frustration and punch things til she felt better. So maybe they both needed healthier coping strategies and a year off, but whatever. Daisy was tired of sitting in the control room wishing she could get her mentor back through sheer force of will.

She headed down to the gym and put her headphones in.

Coulson finds her about fifteen minutes later, punching the largest bag in the room with an angry intensity. Two more seconds and she would probably send the thing flying across the room with her powers. Davis’ piloting skills were already unstable – at best – and they really did not need to feel any more turbulence on this plane than they had to.

It would just be one other thing to remind them of her absence.

Daisy knew May would never believe how despondent and lost they had grown within days of her disappearance. Who would have thought the most silent woman on the team could leave such an immense impact on all of them?

At least it wasn’t six months again. She hoped. She didn’t know what she would do if May wasn’t back soon…

“Daisy.”

She takes out an earpiece when she sees Coulson approaching but does not turn around. She keeps her back to him and focuses on keeping her breaths even, _in and out,_ like May taught her years ago.

“Daisy?” he tried again. “Hey, I think you should take a break, you’ve been at this for hours. I’m not sure you or this bag can take much worse. Dais –“

“I heard you, Coulson!”, she snapped. And then she sighed. “I’m sorry. I just…I’m…”

“I know.” Coulson walked over to the front of the bag and pointed to her hands with a questioning look. Daisy nodded once and he began undoing the bindings, gently freeing her hands from the boxing tape she’d secured on herself just a little too tightly.

He walks her over to the benches and she sits down with him, taking a shaky sip from her water bottle before casting her eyes downward.

“I miss her too”, Coulson says. His expression is only slightly more controlled than hers, and she lets out a sniff. “What if…what if she never comes home, Coulson? What if she’s already –“

“Stop.” His tone is firm and stubborn. “May is not dead, Daisy. You know who she is, what she can do. You know she’d kick both of our asses if she heard us lose faith in her.”

Coulson’s jaw was set. He didn’t want to think about this anymore than she did, but she also knew that it wouldn’t be healthy for him to live in denial. She knew he would continue to brush off the thought of May not surviving, and it obviously wasn’t something she wanted to think about either, so she steered her thoughts in a different direction.

“I’m not losing faith,” she said quietly. “It’s just that…when we were in space, and all that bad stuff was happening with May, and this whole thing with her leg, it just made me think that, I don’t know. She just looked so…human, and vulnerable. And God, she would totally give me a death glare if she were here right now, but honestly…I just felt scared for her. I know it’s stupid because she’s _May,_ but I still feel like, _really_ scared for her.”

Daisy can’t help it when a tear slides down her cheek. Coulson pulls out a small pack of tissues from his pocket, and when she stares at him questioningly he just shrugs.

“I kind of knew this was going to be one of those talks,” he said softly. “And it’s not stupid. We saw May go through an intense amount of trauma there, and that was after her mind was buried in the Framework for weeks.”

He shook his head and stared at the ceiling. “I can’t even imagine how she’s dealing with this right now. But we can’t give up on her. May would never give up on us, not ever, and we can’t let our minds wander to a dark place when chances are she’s up and fighting at this very second. Ok?”

Daisy wipes her eyes and smiles sadly at her boss and father figure. His external optimism was annoying and sometimes stupid, but today it made Daisy feel hopeful.

The moment was interrupted by Fitz’ voice through the intercom, telling them to come to control as soon as they possibly could.

He thinks he’s found a hit on May.

**

TWO HOURS AGO –ROUSSEAU’S

This was it.

According to Fitz and Daisy, a woman fitting May’s description was spotted in the shopping plaza a few blocks down two days ago, and inside this very pub just yesterday morning.

Not for the first time and certainly not aloud, Hunter wondered if May really was in trouble, or if she had just taken another extended vacation from the craziness that came with being an agent of SHIELD.

Although Coulson’s descriptions of May’s last known physical state sounded unhopeful, you could never know with Melinda May. Hell, the woman could be nursing her injuries with a round of shots at this very second. Better to go inside and see for himself.

He sits down at the bar and is promptly greeted by a cute blonde with green eyes. She asks him what he’d like to drink and he orders their finest brew.

Hunter never saw a reason why business couldn’t sometimes mix with pleasure. And as a technical non-agent of Shield, he was under no specific orders not to.

“Excuse me…” he eyes the nametag on her right breast, “Camille? Lovely name, by the way. I’m actually looking for someone I think was here yesterday.”

Camille snorts a good-natured laugh. “This is a tourist attraction on Bourbon Street”, she deadpans. “A lot of people were here yesterday. I can help you, possibly, but I’m gonna need more to go by. And please, call me Cami.”

Hunter smirks. He likes this woman.

“Sorry. Her name is May. About…yay high”, his hand gestures dramatically to his side, undershooting May’s real height by about six inches, “Asian, attractive, looks like she is actively plotting your murder every second of the day, could kill you with her pinky toe, etc…”

He sees recognition cross Cami’s face and knows he’s struck gold. Before Cami answers though her gaze becomes teasing, and slightly suspicious, though she does a mostly good job at hiding it.

“What are you, an ex boyfriend or something?”

Not sure which answer will get him closer or farther from May’s location, Hunter decides to ignore the question and continue to press for answers.

“Can you tell me where she is, Cami, please love? There are _many_ people who are very worried about her, and they just want to know if she’s okay. Even if she’s in a shop getting tutored on voodoo curses, I just need something.”

Cami looked down, unsure whether or not to share something. He took this opportunity to plead again.

“You had a look on your face when I described her. You do know May, then?”

“I know the woman your describing”, Cami said slowly. “But her name isn’t May.”

“But – but I gave you a perfect description! Are you sure?”

Cami hands him his drink and leans back. “Your ex is not the only Asian woman in New Orleans. Sorry.”

Hunter rubbed a hand across his forehead in frustration. How could he convince this girl that she’s already met May without realizing it!

“Okay fine. She – she’s ethnically Chinese, I think and she – dammit, you know her already, she’s Melinda May!”

Cami froze. “Did you say Melinda?”

“Yes! She – “

Oh. It didn’t occur to him to inquire using her first name. Then again, how could it occur to him that Melinda May was running around New Orleans introducing herself to locals by her first name only?

Cami stares at Hunter with open eyed shock and sets the washrag she was using down slowly on the bar. Her eyes scan the room for a quick second and when she looks back at him her expression is slightly panicked.

“Who are you?”

“I’m a friend.” He says (somewhat) honestly. Hunter thought of himself as May’s friend, even if he had no way of knowing if the feeling was returned. Letting him think she hated him was one of May’s favorite pastimes, and no one really knew where the separation between her true thoughts began.

Cami seems to believe this, but this only causes the panicked look in her eye to increase. Her voice even lowers an octave when she speaks to him again.

“I know where she is. But if you’re planning some heroic rescue where you storm the castle guns blazing, then you’re in for a rude awakening. Klaus is not kind to visitors.”

**

17 MINUTES AGO – OUTSIDE THE MIKAELSON MANSION

She made this ‘Klaus’ character sound like the bloody Godfather.

Now Hunter was crouched outside of his admittedly foreboding three story like an idiot. He didn’t think Camille gave him bad intel, but he did wish she’d at least given him a way inside. If May really was being held captive by a psychopath, he’d need to know a lot more about this man than his supposedly terrible bedside manner. If he could only find a way past these pointy hedges…

“I don’t suppose you’d be the new gardener.”

Hunter froze. Then he dusted off his good ole American accent.

“I was sent by a friend a’ yours…uh, Cami I think? Anyway she was right, sir. These – these hedges need to be trimmed, badly.”

Klaus stepped closer and examined Hunter in a way that maybe only slightly made him want to shite his pants. He was pretty sure he’d been made the second this guy caught him trying to scale his patio.

“Camille sent a man with a bad American accent to trim my hedges at 7:30 am. on a Saturday?” he said questioningly, raising his brows in a faux incredulous smile. It reminded him something of a Cheshire cat high on bloodlust.

Yup. So made.

“Try again mate.”

 “Neighborhood watch?”

Now Hunter wasn’t your average mark, mind you. He was a former mercenary and agent of a sometimes legal superspy organization.

He’d been married to Bobbi Morse more than once, for bloody’s sake.

So when he found himself hurled against a wall and narrowly avoiding a garden pot to the head, Hunter was…starting to rethink his recent choices in life.

Apparently his answer had pissed Klaus off, and he was lifted by his throat and slammed against the concrete wall of the mansion for good measure.

“You did say to try again, mate.”

Klaus growled and Hunter suddenly realized that what he was dealing here wasn’t human. It was something feral, ancient, and dangerous. Uh oh.

At least the team hadn’t been worrying themselves into a frenzy these past several days for nothing. Top gun specialist and exemplary human Melinda May had finally crossed an enemy she had no hopes of beating.

**

Melinda took a step out to the balcony and immediately ducked into Hope’s room.

Lucky for her, but rather unfortunately for Hunter, Klaus seemed to be too busy wailing on him to notice her spiked heart rate or the two seconds she stood slack jawed in the open before she pulled herself against the wall to take a breather.

Hunter was in the house and Klaus was beating him half to death.

This was not good.

And if she didn’t stop him in the next five minutes, she was sure Hunter would die of blood loss anyway. Or Klaus would eat him for breakfast.

Shit. God damn it, Hunter!

How was supposed to stop Klaus from killing him without telling on herself and jeopardizing the safety of her team. Behind her Hope had began to whine softly.

She had an idea.

**

Hunter tried to stay awake as blood trickled down his face. It mingled with the sweat that matted his short strands to his forehead. The psychotic bastard was still talking to him, or talking down to him, but his bloody ears were ringing and he couldn’t make out the words. He spat on the floor. His hair was yanked up and in his failure to wince at the pain he saw her. Wide-eyed, scared, and then gone. Weird. Maybe it was some sort of premonition. Like May’s ghost was haunting him and lamenting his stupidity or something. Yeah…that sounds about right.

And then she’s back a moment later, with something small and squirmy in her arms. Wait. What.

Melinda May was standing at the balcony of a monster, holding a human infant and glaring at Klaus like a motherfucker. Whatever she said to him got his attention and his body was dropped with a thud on polished granite. Yup. He was definitely concussed.

**

“You woke up your daughter.”

She pursed her lips and the expression on her face would have been adorable if it were not so deadly serious. He decided to find humor in it anyway.

“Did I?”

“What are you doing anyway?”, she chose to ignore his glib tone and pressed on. “This guy step on Elijah’s poinsettias or something?”

Klaus had an inkling that if her arms weren’t carrying Hope, she’d have crossed them over her chest to underscore her disappointment.

“This charlatan thought he could come to my house uninvited and pick a fight, so I gave it to him. He even tried implicating Camille in this little plot.”

Her eyebrows rose and Klaus found himself getting defensive. “Disprove all you want, love, but I will always protect what belongs to me. No one has tried to disrespect me and lived to tell the tale.”

Well, except for Katherine Pierce. And the Salvatore brothers. And their insufferable little doppelganger and their smalltown group of friends. And of course his fiendish mother and father. And occasionally his siblings, when they felt stifled by his protection and sought out to commit treachery as a thank you.

But that was beside the point. He would not be conspired against in his own house by a dimwitted stranger! To allow such a thing to happen would be weakness, and Niklaus Mikealson showed weakness to no one.

Hope cried louder in Melinda’s arms and she quickly shushed the baby by cooing something in her ear that he believed to be a Chinese lullaby. Hope stopped her crying to listen intently as the foreign words filled her tiny little ears. Soon after she smiled and Melinda tickled her ribcage, beaming down at her with affection.

Her eyes landed back on Klaus and the familiar scowl was back. “You were saying?” Her tone was as scathing and dry as it always was when she addressed him and Klaus bit back a snarl.

“Well it seems you’ve calmed down Hope, so the two of you can go back to whatever it is you were doing and leave me in bloody peace.”

Klaus didn’t know why he expected her to listen, except perhaps out of habit, yet he still managed to be affronted when she ignored his clear dismissal and stared down at the stranger with vague disinterest.

“I think you made your point, Klaus. He knows you’re the Big Bad Wolf and you’ve cracked at least three of his ribs. Congratulations.” Her tone loses its sardonicness and becomes somewhat tired. “Can you take this outside at least? Contrary to what you think I don’t really enjoy waking up to the sound of you beating people.”

“Well now that is a surprise, Melinda. I figured violence would call to you like a symphony.”

She glowered and he settled into comfortable territory again. knowing his needling was starting to take effect. He smirked.

“Fine. But the next time some fool shows up unannounced I will not be as merciful”, he ignored her scoff and snarky reply about the definitions of ‘merciful’ and continued. “But if anyone in this family is harmed by my acts of benevolence then you will be to blame for it!”

She stood in the same spot, unimpressed.

Klaus had to get out of the house. The weight of her glare was becoming uncomfortable.

“I have some business to take care of on the other side of town. I’ll be back by nightfall.”

“And what about the unconscious man you left bleeding in the foyer.”

“Well. You wanted to save his soul so badly…the least you can do is patch him up and lead him on his way.”

He grabbed his jacket and texted two of his sires to meet him out front with a car. Above him, Melinda pursed her lips in a sour expression. “Supernatural nanny and now candystriper”, she muttered, “what else is new.”

He sped out of the house with a smug expression.

In his haste, Klaus completely missed the triumphant look that crossed her face once she was left alone to care for her injured friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about ch 6 - I wanted to write something a bit longer since the wait for updates takes a while. the full hunter x may chapter should be up by the end of this month! :)


	6. Chapter 6

He hears her voice first.

Her face comes into focus later, and her expression is so panicked and un-Maylike that Hunter genuinely wonders if he imagined finding her before he blacked out. Hunter sits up slowly and waves off May’s concern. She backs off a bit once she knows he’s okay but lingers a few feet away, eyes cautious still. He felt a wet patch of blood near his temple and touched it with a hand.

“Jesus…”

May surveyed him silently, probably taking stock of his injuries.

“You’re not concussed”, she voiced his fears in relief. “But you should probably go see a doctor after this.”

He nodded and winced at the stinging sensation from his ribs. “Noted.”

May has set up a workstation of some sort in the study of whatever house of horrors she’s been imprisoned in. She’s sterilized a set of sewing needles with a bottle of vintage scotch.

She hands him a half-filled glass of another. She doesn’t need to explain what it’s for.

Hunter spies a glass of water on the end table and reaches for it; his shoulder screams in protest. May presses the glass in his hands instead and he nods gratefully. “Thank you dove.”

He takes a sip of both and then hands them back to May, who places them dutifully on the table. She crosses her arms and says nothing.

“Are you really not going to explain any of this?” Hunter gapes at her with his unbruised eye. She scoffs.

“You first. And don’t give me any of that crap about Cami, because I know she wouldn’t be stupid enough to tell you to do this.”

He leans his head against the wall and sighs.

“She explicitly told me not to, actually.”

May nods.

“Obviously, the plan was my idea, but I was sent by Coulson to find you. Based on the hourly phone calls from Fitz and Daisy I’d say they’re going pretty mad without you, May.”

May moves over to where he lays and starts wiping his wounds with a cloth. She lifts up his shirt and stares at the deep bruises on his ribs, lips pursed in a tight line. She presses gently on the ribs and murmurs a soft apology at Hunter’s ill hidden grimace.

“Seems like your plans still need work,” she murmurs. Her eyes level on him and Hunter coughs out a laugh.

“I’ve missed you too.”

She smiles genuinely then, one of her little precious closed lipped ones that were usually saved for Coulson and Daisy.

May brings a wet cloth to clean the caked-on blood and gets most of it off before disinfecting him with the alcohol. Hunter wipes the last of the blood from his face as May stitches his arm. Her stitches aren’t perfect, but they’re doable for now.

“Your ribs aren’t actually broken”, she says, “just fractured. That means they can’t be reset; they’ll just have to heal on their own.”

Hunter nods. He’s been through worse.

May looks unsure about something.

“May, you’re not speaking again. What is it?”

May was glaring intently at the floor, looking very interested suddenly at its glossy wood finish. “There is a way to heal you…but it’s…”

“It’s what?” Hunter raised a concerned brow. It wasn’t like May to beat around the bush like this. She sighed.

“You wanna know the truth? Fine. But I’m warning you now, Hunter, it’s full of more strange bullshit than usual.”

May takes a breath and tells him everything. Everything about who and what Klaus Mikaelson is, the siblings that live with him, and the vampire down the street who trains her to fight other vampires and is supposedly Klaus’ adopted son. She tells him everything except why she’s really here, why Klaus chose _her_ of all people to raise his baby girl for him. She tells him about compulsion and healing and a plant whose powder made you immune to both. A plant she now carries around her like Mack and YoYo carry crosses on their necks.

She tells him this with no embellishments and rarely goes into too much detail because – well, _May –_ and when she’s finished, she doesn’t wait for his response and gets up to go refill his glass of water and her own glass of whiskey. Hunter reaches for the drink and when May sets it in his hand, he downs it in a single gulp. He looks back at May with nothing more than a quizzical expression.

“Are you sure he’s not just a…super Inhuman or something?”

May stares at him like that’s the dumbest thing she’s ever heard. And well, it may just be stupid, but after all that she dumped on him just now, Hunter didn’t think it was _that_ preposterous.

“Jesus Christ, May…bloody vampires and…hybrids and… that, that baby back there, that was his daughter?? How the bloody hell can they…no, never mind. Not a question I want answered. But…babies and curses and magical blood that heals humans. And _you_ getting captured by them and forced to live here. I mean… _Jesus Christ, May.”_

May gives him another impatient look that says _are you done?_ and Hunter wants to say that he is very much not, but after a moment of thought he decides she’s answered every major question, so he sits back and sips his water.

“Alright. So how you do you plan to get out of here? …You do _want_ to leave, don’t you?”

May rolled her eyes.

“No, I want to stay forcibly employed as a psychopath werewolf-vampire’s nanny for the rest of my life.”

Hunter made an amused sound. “I’m glad this whole experience has done nothing to dampen your personality.”

May leaned against the table and took a drink. “So, no on the blood then?”

“Definitely not. Good looking though. May?”

She inclined her head towards him.

“They said you were pretty banged up from all the space shite. The team, I mean. Did he make you drink his blood?”

May sucked in a breath and nodded, knowing this question was coming.

He was trying to make sure she wasn’t a monster.

Melinda has spent years trying to figure out the same, and if there’s anything this little adventure has taught her it’s that things aren’t that simple anymore. She didn’t know how to define herself these days.

But she’ll be damned before she lets anyone _actually_ turn her into blood drinking demon.

“He did. And then he wiped my memory of it, and everything except our first encounter was gone. But I’m still human, Hunter. I don’t remember what his blood tasted like, nor do I want to.”

“But you’ve tasted blood before.”

May rolled her head over to give him the side eye.

“Of course. Haven’t you?”

Hunter snorted.

“Of course. My own, usually. Don’t care much for the taste.”

“Me neither.”

“Too tangy.”

“Yeah.”

They quietly sat in each other’s company and finished their drinks. Melinda stood up to refill their glasses again when Hope’s baby monitor went off. She was still in the nursery, upstairs, and she had started to cry.

“Damn it. I’ll be right back.”

Hunter nodded and Melinda took off for the stairs at a brisk walk. It made Hunter curious.

What exactly was May doing here? She never specified, besides her assertion that “Klaus needed her” and “saw something in her that he thought was useful.” It was strange.

May was one of the most useful people he knew in most situations, but this? It was a little out of her depth. Immortal monsters don’t need humans around as bodyguards; not even when they were as strong as May. And what was up with her and the baby? There had to be something else going on that she wasn’t telling him.

He supposed he was here to find out.

**

Hunter was suspicious.

She knew she would have to tell him what was really going on before she left, but she needed a moment to process everything first. She centered herself, did her controlled breathing exercises, and stepped in a nursery to console a crying baby.

“Come here sweetheart,” Melinda lifted the baby into her arms. Hope’s cries were muffled on Melinda’s shoulder as she held Hope’s small head against her back. Her flingers glided over the thin auburn hairs covering Hope’s scalp. Her mind drifted to the lullaby her mother used to sing. It had become sort of a thing for her to hum it to Hope, she didn’t know how or why.

She didn’t know when having things with sweet little Hope Mikaelson had become _her_ thing.

Hope started to quiet against her shoulder.

“Yes _Baobei,_ that’s it. That’s a good girl.”

Hope’s cries slowed down to whimpers. Melinda nuzzled her head against her shoulder. Melinda pressed a kiss to Hope’s head and whispered more sweet assurances.

Hope looked up at Melinda with dry eyes, at last. Melinda smiled at herself and the baby.

“It’s about your lunch time, isn’t it honey? Let’s go get something to eat.”

Hope made a contented sound against her chest and Melinda was smiling still when she went downstairs.

After grabbing Hope a bottle from the fridge, she went back to the study where Hunter was watching her intently.

She sighed and sat on the plush loveseat with her right hand feeding Hope while the other caressed her head. She felt self-conscious suddenly and frowned at Hunter, who was still staring at her.

“You asked.”

Hunter furrowed his brows, confusion still evident on his features.

“I’m her nanny Hunter”, she explained a bit crossly. She never did like explaining the obvious.

Although to be fair, she couldn’t imagine anyone on the team reacting differently, either. She didn’t exactly give off a motherly vibe.

Except.

Coulson and Daisy saw this instinct inside of her, had told her so when they were trapped in space. She’d chalked it up to Coulson just being supportive and Daisy, well….

At the time she’d thought Daisy was just trying to diffuse the tension and comfort Melinda in her own way. She hadn’t put any additional thought into it. She just wasn’t motherly, period. Of course Hunter would be freaked out and confused by her swaddling someone else’s baby.

She wasn’t sure when she herself had stopped being bothered by it.

“May?”

Hunter’s voice brings Melinda out of her thoughts. She absently takes the bottle from Hope’s mouth and rubs her back against her neck again. Burping a tiny human (?) being after every meal was now second nature to her, apparently. There was no time to brood about her traumatic past when responsible for a child. Especially when the biggest possible threats to her existence were her own flesh and blood.

Klaus loved his daughter, as he did the rest of his family, in his own demented way, but one look at the strained relationships between he and his siblings told Melinda that Klaus’ brand of love was toxic and dangerous, for all parties involved.

She didn’t know what demons Elijah and Rebekah had, but Hope was innocent. Hope didn’t deserve this. Melinda wasn’t going the fail the girl this time, she was going to save her. And sometimes saving meant changing diapers and singing lullabies and mixing vervain bottles herself.

“I’m not sure how long the house will be empty, Hunter”, she said. “I don’t know how Rebekah or Elijah will react, but Klaus will definitely kill you if he sees you again.”

Hunter nodded, sensing May’s fear of Klaus warring with her genuine desire to help him recover.

“Don’t worry about me, love”, he says as her eyes scan over him again. “I’m quite durable, as you well know.”

She nodded solemnly. “You really should go see a doctor.”

“I know a guy, right around here actually. Fix me right up.”

“Because your associates are so trustworthy”, she says with a derisive snort. The tension had mostly cleared from her eyes, though. Hunter smirked and winked at her playfully.

“This one’s solid, I think –“

“You think?”

“He’s not Hydra and he hasn’t tried to kill me recently…except for that time at poker…he was always a hothead, that one. But he’s solid, May. Really solid. Trust him with my life. Unless his mate Brad is around, then I’m fucked.”

Hunter paused when Melinda scowled, and he belatedly remembered there was infant at her hip.

“Really May”, Hunter said, “I’m going to be fine. You’re the one who’s trapped here, without help, without access to the team.”

“I miss them.” Melinda swallowed. Hunter nodded, grief and understanding in his eyes.

“They miss you too.”

She smiled in that little way of hers and Hunter quirked his lips back. He wiped his palms together and cleared his throat.

“Right then. Guess I should be going.”

Melinda set Hope down on her stomach and aided Hunter in standing up. He took a few steps independently, experimentally, and found that with a little bit of limping (and much ill-hidden discomfort) he was mostly able to get around on his own. Melinda pursed her lips in concern.

“How far away is your contact?”

Hunter paused, the lie on his lips dying as soon as soon as he saw the stern, genuine worry on Melinda’s face. “I’d imagine it’s a twenty-minute walk, in my condition.”

She nods. Her eyes burn with emotion she tries hard to reign in as she clears her own throat.

“Okay. Don’t die out there.”

Hunter blinks at her surprise before grinning.

“I would think that it’s implied, dove,” he says, referencing her response to his and Bobbi’s mantra the first time she heard them say it. Melinda smirks at the memory takes Hunter’s hand.

“You needed to hear it.”

He kisses her cheek. “And so do you. Don’t die _in here,_ May.”

He says it like a question and Melinda tightens her grip on his hand, silently aching for more contact but unsure of how to ask for it. She releases Hunter’s hand and nods minutely.

“Best go out the window”, Hunter nods towards the balcony at his left and she nods. Melinda parts the curtains and unlocks the door.

“See you around, May.”

She feels the tears close around her throat and knows she cannot speak, yet, so she snaps her mouth shut and nods again. When the door closes and Hunter is but a retreating form in the back of the property, she finds her voice again.

“See you around.”

**

Rebekah came back to a bloody mess.

Or several, actually, that had been hastily cleaned up by some poor compellable soul after the fact. Except there were new blood stains from this morning in the courtyard, and along the foyer. Shaking her head, Rebekah sighed.

Hayley’s ‘time of the month’ never failed to stir up animosities amongst her brothers, which was why she always made herself scarce during these fights. And of course, they’d dragged an innocent human into things.

Ugh. What a burden sometimes it was to be a level headed lady in the midst of all that craziness. And nevertheless, she persisted.

This time she’d persisted in Paris, where she’d brought little knickknacks as well as designer dresses home from her little holiday.

Rebekah wandered into Klaus’ study, hearing two faint heartbeats that she recognized as her baby niece and Melinda. She clutched a hand to her chest at the sight before her. Hope and Melinda were snuggled up on the loveseat together, Melinda’s arms wrapped protectively around Hope’s tummy. Melinda stirred at her presence.

“Well hello there, sleepyheads”, Rebekah smiled down at them fondly. “Did you miss me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> decided not to end on a cliffhanger this time! I really wanted to spotlight the hunter/may friendship in this chapter. i hope you guys enjoyed it!


End file.
